charles nelson reilly

He once saved a crowded school bus from falling off of a cliff ... using only a scarf.

Firefighters blamed him for the Laguna Wildfire when his Aviator sunglasses came in contact with the sun.

People stop and stare at every word he writes, particularly when he writes "boobs."

He is the most interesting man in the world. And his name is Charles Nelson Reilly. The actor, comedian, director and Match Game fixture has been posthumously immortalized by comedy musician "Weird Al" Yankovic in a new hilarious online single called "CNR".

That's right folks: in this era where no section of TV history is left unscathed, everyone's favorite shag-carpeted, wokka-wokka game show from the seventies might be coming to a TV near you soon. Fremantle is currently talking with cable networks about a revival of the show and is also looking for an executive producer, and will hire talent after the EP is brought on board.

I was going to say that Somers "was" married to Jack Klugman, but an interesting fact: even though they separated in 1974, while The Odd Couple was on the air, they never divorced! Somers played Klugman's ex-wife on the show.

Besides her many game show appearances, Somers also guest starred on The Love Boat, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love, American Style, Barney Miller, Battlestar Galactica (the original), The F.B.I., The Defenders, Ben Casey, Naked City, and many other shows.

We all remember Charles Nelson Reilly, who passed away early this week, from his days on Match Game. Even people who weren't alive during the original run of the show (surprisingly, there are so many of you) know how good he was on that program from the repeats that are shown on GSN. But, what you may not know, or may not want to remember, is that Mr. Reilly was also a star of Saturday morning kids fare back in the early 1970's.

His biggest role was as Hoo Doo, the evil magician from the Sid & Marty Kroftt psychedelic extravaganza Lidsville. Hoo Doo was the nemesis of young teen Mark (played by Butch Patrick) who landed in Lidsville, a land populated by living hats, after falling into the magic hat of one Merlino the Magician. In each (or nearly each) episode Hoo Doo tried to thwart Mark's attempts to return to his home with the aid of Weenie the Genie (Billy Hayes, Witchiepoo of H.R. Pufnstuf) and various good hats.

The show ran on ABC from 1971 to 1973, and then on NBC from 1973 to 1974. A year later Reilly returned to Saturday Morning television with Uncle Croc's Block, where he hosted live-action scenes between three Filmation cartoons. I couldn't find any video of Uncle Croc, but I did find the groovy opening to Lidsville on, wherelse, YouTube. You can enjoy the very long intro after the jump.

Aw, this is sad news: longtime Match Game panelist Charles Nelson Reilly has died at the age of 76.

Of course, he was known for a lot more than that. He won a Tony Award in 1962 for his work on Broadway in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. Reilly was also an acclaimed director, directing such plays as The Belle of Amherst and The Gin Game. He also directed several episodes of the TV show Evening Shade. He was a regular on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir and appeared on many other shows, including Hollywood Squares, Love Boat, Nanny and the Professor, Lidsville, Here's Lucy, Love, American Style, Amazing Stories, Family Matters, The Drew Carey Show, SpongeBob SquarePants, and The X-Files.

Now, I used to watch Match Game when I was a kid. It was a cheesy, goofy, slightly racy (I knew all that even when I was 8 and 9 years old) celeb-filled 70s game show that was good for a laugh or two during the day. But now comes word that a Best of Match Game 4-disc set is coming November 21, and I don't know how I feel about that.

Does someone really want to sit down on their couch and throw in a DVD of a game show? I mean, if they had some "classic" episodes, then it might be worth taking a look at, but is there really enough material here for 4 discs? Maybe it has a lot of extras on it, like interviews with some of the cast, and maybe a fast "Dumb Dora" montage. That might be funny.